


Unconditional

by the-nug-king (eloralouistra)



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Gen, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 14:25:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15910071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloralouistra/pseuds/the-nug-king
Summary: After the end of the Gum War, Marceline talks to Simon and Bubblegum about love.





	Unconditional

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings: mentions of an abusive relationship (aka Ash) and heteronormativity. Spoilers for the finale.

It’s the end of the Gum War, which BMO’s calling great but Marceline doesn’t think really compares to certain _other_ great wars, and the end of the world, which everyone can agree turned out better than expected, and that calls for a celebration. Aunt Lolly invited both armies back to Gumbaldia for a feast in a show of reconciliation, and Bubblegum had been happy to accept. Marceline had been able to grab Bubblegum before the feast began, but they hadn’t had time for much more than a quick celebratory kiss. Bubblegum had a lot to discuss with Aunt Lolly and Marceline wanted to spend some time with Simon. There’d be time for them to talk to each other later.

“So,” says Simon, smiling at Marceline as she sits down next to him. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

“Nah,” Marceline grins at him, helping herself to a couple of sweet red apples. “We’ve been hanging out for years, Simon, there’s not much you’ve missed out on.”

Simon seems to relax slightly at that. “Thanks Marcy. Thanks for hanging out with me even though I was a ding dong.”  
  
“‘Course!” She punches him in the arm. “I love you, you ding dong!” There are still things he’s missed, the time he left her for her own protection, the time it hurt too much to see him. Pain, and loneliness, and Hunson, and Jo and Two Bread Tom, and Bubblegum, and Ash, and then loneliness again. Someday she’ll tell him about all of it. But today is for celebrating.

Simon grins at her, rubbing his arm. “Love you too. So uh… there’s still stuff you haven’t been telling me. I mean, not that you have to, I know you have stuff you like to keep private, but with the crown, I kind of talked about myself a lot, and didn’t always ask after you. So, you know, how are you doing these days? Really?”

Marceline considers. “You know, I think I’m good,” she says, surprising herself slightly to realise it. “I’ve been through a lot of stuff, but these last few years, things have been getting better. I like where I am now, and I think I’m going to be okay.”

Simon beams at her. “That’s great, Marcy. Just know you can always talk to me if you need to.”

“Thanks Simon. You too.”

They sit in silence together for a moment, enjoying each other’s company. “So,” asks Simon after a moment. “You got a boyfriend yet?”

And there it is. He’d asked her the same thing that time in the crown, or the crown version of him had, and she’d been able to avoid talking about it, mostly, because they’d been on an important mission to find out what’s up with the crown and save the real Simon, and then afterwards she hadn’t been able to go back. But she can’t exactly keep hiding it from him now. Sooner or later, she has to tell him.

“Not... exactly,” she says slowly. “I mean, I had this boyfriend once! Ash, his name was. We dated for, like, a few decades before I dumped him. He was the _worst_.”

“Wish I could have been there to punch him,” Simon says, again. “Is he still around? Want me to go and punch him now?”

 And Marceline smiles, and tells him that she can punch her own jerks now, again.

 But, of course, this time they’re not on an important mission to find out what’s up with the crown and save the real Simon, so Simon can continue asking her about it.

"What’s _not exactly_ though?” He looks at her in concern. “This Ash guy didn’t put you off relationships forever, did he? Not everyone’s going to hurt you Marcy, and if they do, they’ll have to deal with me now.”

“It’s not that! It’s… uh...” Marceline looks across the table to Bubblegum, deep in conversation with Lolly. “The thing with Ash was kind of… I was like, crazy lonely, and he made me not feel lonely for a bit, and I felt like that was the same as liking him, but it wasn’t and…” She breaks off, staring down at her plate. Maybe she doesn’t need to do this now, she has time, maybe she should just enjoy being around Simon without risking messing everything up.

She feels a hand on her shoulder. “Marcy,” Simon says gently. “You know you can tell me anything, right? And I’m always going to love you. Always.”

She looks up at him again and takes a deep breath. “I… kind of like girls. Romantically.”

The concern on Simon’s face breaks into a smile. “Oh. That’s great, Marcy. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. Guess I’m still a bit of a ding dong!”

Marceline laughs, hugging him. “Maybe sometimes. Thank you, Simon.”

“Aww, you’ve got nothing to thank me for, sweetie. So! Who’s the lucky woman? When do I get to meet her?”

“You… kind of have already.” She looks across at Bubblegum again and Simon follows her gaze.

“Ohh. Well… I think I have even more apologising to do to Bubblegum than I thought,” he says at last. “Sorry for uh… I guess i kind of made things awkward there.”

“You mean like, with turning up at my house to sing about how much you want to marry her and stuff? No shit.”

“ _Language_ , young lady!”

“Simon! I’m over a thousand years old now!” She shoves him in the shoulder and they laugh.

“Still though, you should bring Bubblegum round to my place again sometime, if you’re both up to it. I’ll try not to make it weird this time.” He frowns, his “trying to remember something” frown Marceline knows all to well and she can’t help but tense up a little at it before Simon breaks into a grin. “Hey! Last time we did that, you two said it _wasn’t_ a date!”

“It wasn’t! I mean, we didn’t mean it to be. I, uh, guess it might have been, a little bit.”

“Oh yeah? When did you two get together then?”

Marceline runs a hand through her hair. “We actually dated a few hundred years ago. Before Bonnie had even finished building the Candy Kingdom. But we ended up falling out, and then we stopped speaking to each other for like, forever. But I still loved her, all that time, and we eventually just sort of drifted back together. And then that time Patience St. Pim decided to mess up all of Ooo, I ended up kind of realising that I never wanted to be without her again. We got back together a couple of weeks later, after this chat I had with BMO. Things are going well now.”

“I’m so happy for you both,” says Simon. “So how about it? Dinner and karaoke at my place next week, quality family time, a long list of apologies, and no crown to donk everything up this time.”

“I’d like that. I think Bonnie would like it too. She can be very forgiving, when she tries. I’ll have to ask her when she can do. She’s got a crazy busy schedule most of the time, but I can usually pull her away when I need.”

“Great! I’m busy on Grodsday but-” His face falls suddenly.

“Simon? What’s wrong?”

“Oh it’s not much,” he sighs. “I just made some friends with the crown, and I don’t know if they’ll still like me now I’ve changed.”

“You never told me you made other friends!” Marceline blurts out in surprises, and then winces. “I mean, hey, you’re still you. They should be able to see that, and if they don’t, they’re jerks, and then I can punch them for _you_.”

Simon gives a non-committal hum, smiling at her gratefully as he pats down his pockets, before shaking his head. “No use, GOLB must’ve digested it. Sorry Marcy, could I borrow your phone a minute, please?”

“Sure,” Marceline passes over her phone, sucking the red out of an apple as he dials the number.

“Hey, Abracadaniel! Ice King here!”

Marceline hears indistinct yelling coming from the other side of the phone.

“Oh yeah I saw! I was right in the middle of it! Right in its mouth, actually.” Simon nods to some more yelling. “Yeah. Look, I’ll tell you all about it later but listen. You know our wizard sort-of-secret-society-but-not-like-those-sucky-exclusive-secret-societies-full-of-stuck-up-jerks society? Would, uh, would someone still be allowed to be part of it even if they weren’t technically a wizard any longer?” He gives a relieved smile at the reponse. “Great. I’ll see you guys next week then.” He glances around the room, checking that no one but Marceline is watching before leaning closer to the phone and murmuring “Giuseppe”.

“What’s Giuseppe?” Marceline asks, as he hands her the phone back.

“Oh, if I told you that, I really would be kicked out of the wizard club!” Simon grins at her.

Marceline rolls her eyes.“Ooookay, Simon. Well, I’ll chat with Bonnie later, and we’ll work out a time.”

“No need to hurry,” says Simon, smiling. “I’m not going anywhere.” And for the first time since they’d met, a couple of frightened, lonely survivors in the wreck of a war, their time together feels boundless.

***

Marceline finds Bubblegum in a quiet antechamber off the main hall after the end of the feast. She’s watching over Peppermint Butler, as he takes wobbly steps around the room, still under the effect of Gumbald’s Dum Dum Juice. Bubblegum looks up at Marceline as she enters the room, giving her a small smile before going back to watching Peppermint Butler.

“Peps wasn’t like the others,” she says quietly.  “He was one of the first, when I realised I might need someone to help me run the Candy Kingdom when it got bigger. I made him so he’d get better at that when he matured, but he’d still get to be happy before that.” She sighs. “At least he gets that again now.”

“Hey.” Marceline wraps her arms around Bubblegum from behind, hugging her close. “We can plug LSP into Ooo again and get her to turn Peps back, you know. Just gotta make sure Gumbald’s out of the lumps-range first.

“I know.” Bubblegum rests her head against Marceline’s shoulder. “But is that the right thing to do? He’s happier now and I don’t know if I have the right to take that away from him. But I don’t know if I have the right to leave him like this, either. It wasn’t his choice, and he’s lost a lot of who he was. I’ve spent a lot of time making my own decisions about what’s right for other people, Marcy, and I don’t want to do that anymore.”

Marceline closes her eyes, hugging Bubblegum tighter. “You love him, right? Whatever he’s like, however he’s changed, you love him?”

“Of course! He’s one of my citizens, I love him unconditionally.”

“Then I think that’s all that matters.”

Bubblegum nods, and they sit down on the floor together, Bubblegum reaching out a hand to take her old butler’s as he wobbles towards them.

“I’ll look after him,” she says. “Gumbaldia’s cake people don’t need quite as much looking after as my candy people, apparently, and Aunt Lolly doesn’t have as much of an interest in being in charge of her own city as Uncle Gumbald, so she’s going to help me out at the Candy Kingdom a lot. Kind of as a backup princess. Which means I won’t have to stress out so much about managing everything myself, and I’ll have more time for Peps.” She turns to Marceline and smiles. “And for you. If you ever feel like we’re drifting apart again, let me know, and I’ll pass over the reigns to Aunt Lolly for a bit.” She hesitates. “But don’t like, abuse that you know? Because none of this means I’m giving up on my kingdom!”

Marceline laughs. “I don’t think _anyone_ could think you were ever giving up on your kingdom, Peebles. But don’t worry, any time you start being a crazeballs workaholic, I’ll come drag you away and we can go spray a new tag in the Rock Candy Mines or something.

“Thanks,” Bubblegum smiles. “We’ll do better than last time.”

“I know,” Marceline leans into Bubblegum, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together as Peppermint Butler climbs onto her lap and curls up happily. “I’m not letting _anything_ pull you away from me again. Not GOLB, not work, not nothing.”

Bubblegum squeezes her hand. “I love you, Marcy.”

“I love you too, Bonnie. Always.”


End file.
